Although local Internet companies compete with worldwide leaders like Yahoo and eBay for page views and membership, foreign firms do not dominate the Net in Taiwan, according to an AC Nielsen ratings report released yesterday.
Seven of the top 10 Web properties attracting a Taiwanese audience are local firms, and Yahoo won the top spot only by its US$145 million purchase last November of top dog, Kimo.com.tw (奇摩).
After opening its Chinese-language Web site, yahoo.com.tw, officials from the popular American Internet company found local competition stiff, and local users here preferred Kimo's style better.
"Every third party report we saw ranked Kimo number one in Taiwan, the most members, the most page views -- and Yahoo wanted to move more quickly with our Greater China plan, that's why we decided to purchase the site," said Tiffany Chou, spokesperson for Yahoo-Taiwan.
Nielsen ranked Kimo number one again, with 782 million page views in February, the distant second place going to PC Home Online (pchome.com.tw,
"It's clear that a local strategy with local content and services is critical for Internet companies to make significant inroads into the Taiwan market," said Forrest Didier, executive director of ACNielsen eRatings.com, North Asia.
Local Net surfers voted with their mice, clicking over to sites they like the best -- Chinese language sites focusing on Taiwan.
One local analyst was surprised to see HiNet come in third in the rankings, and surmised the company may have a high ranking due to the company's role as an Internet Service Provider. Buy Internet service from the company and the software needed to run it opens the Web on Hinet.com, unless the user changes it. Many users might not know how to change the opening page.
Internet portals like Kimo and PC Home, which offer free e-mail and other services, took the top five spots on the ranking. Coolbid.com.tw, Taiwan's answer to auction site eBay, was the first non-portal site in the ranking, coming in sixth.
The low price of many popular Web properties has attracted intense takeover speculation as of late, with rumors putting Yahoo itself on the block in a possible hostile takeover attempt by a media giant like the Disney Company. In Taiwan, Lycosasia has expressed interest in gaining ground in the local market through acquisition. Lycosasia.com.tw failed to crack AC Nielsen's top 25.
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